We can't say for sure if Chris Paul and James Harden had quite an unpleasant relationship with the Houston Rockets indeed, but Paul is apparently disliked by some NBA veterans around the league.
Ethan Strauss of The Athletic reported Sunday that Paul hasn't exactly gained the trust of some of his colleagues. According to Strauss, an anonymous NBA player has accused Paul of only advocating for elite NBA players in his role as the president of the National Basketball Players Association.
The anonymous player expressed his frustrations with Paul, who leads the union negotiations with the NBA, and said that he only looks out for "the banana-boat crew" and doesn't care much for players in the lower tier.
The banana-boat crew happens to be good friends of Paul and the industry's best and highest-paid players. This includes Carmelo Anthony, Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, and Paul himself.
"They advocate for the interests of max players and super-max players," the source said of Paul via Strauss' report. "Basically, the CBA has helped the whole banana-boat crew from back in the day. It's taken from the mid-level. I think middle-tier players aren't getting that mid-level money anymore."
Indeed, star players of the league are key players in driving value of the NBA both on and off the court. Moreover, the controversial "max" has long been argued as artificially keeping down their salaries and subsequently allowing the middle class to be paid well. A lot of teams have also benefitted in getting rotation players on minimum deals as a competitive advantage, and this has greatly affected salaries of mid-tier players.
Paul himself, being a max-level player, has benefitted from this. In fact, he signed a four-year deal valued at nearly $160 million last summer. This means that by the time he's 36 years, old, he will earn over $44 million.
On the other end of the spectrum, lower-tier players, such as Austin Rivers, will earn a little over $2 million next season regardless of his performance. Sure, performance is also a basis, as well as durability, but it goes without saying that teams are always on the lookout for keeping or getting max-level players.
So not all people like Paul both as a player and a person, but max players getting paid a whole has long been accepted as the norm. To be fair, what they receive, regardless of how huge this amount is, is nothing compared to the actual value they give the NBA.
